The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for producing an exploded view, the exploded view being produced for the purpose of showing the structure of an assembly composed of plural parts, an assembling procedure in a manufacturing process, or a procedure for maintenance and inspection or repairing of the structure, for example.
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for producing an animation showing assembling of parts by which a structure of an assembly composed of plural parts, or an assembling procedure in a manufacturing process, is confirmed on a screen of a central processing unit.
An exploded view is a drawing in which parts composing an assembly are disassembled from an assembled state into pieces and arranged in an assembling order in the reverse direction of attachment. Such an exploded view is used for the purpose of showing the structure of an assembly composed of plural parts, an assembling procedure in a manufacturing process, or a procedure for maintenance and inspection or repairing of the structure, for example.
In the past, an exploded view has been produced by hand based on a manufacturing drawing, such as an assembly drawing, details drawing and the like, and with reference to an assembling procedure manual showing an assembling procedure and the like.
In recent years, a CAD system also has been used in the design of products. An operator has made an exploded view by producing an assembly drawing of a product to be produced by using a three-dimensional CAD system and by moving parts with a moving command, taking the assembling procedure into consideration, based on data produced by the three-dimensional CAD system.
In conventional technology, it has taken a very long time to make an exploded view produced by hand. Although, by utilizing geometrical data for assembly of a product obtained by a three-dimensional CAD system eliminates the need to draw at least geometrical pictures of parts, it takes a long time for an operator to move parts one by one by inputting values representing moving directions and moving amounts.
Further, in studying an assembling procedure in preparation for manufacturing, it is necessary to confirm whether the assembling procedure is correct or not. However, since a trial and error method is required in determining the correctness of an assembling procedure, there is a problem in that it takes substantial manpower to revise the exploded view by hand for every procedural change.
In a conventional method for producing an animation of an assembling procedure, an assembled model as a geometrical product in an assembled state is produced using a three-dimensional CAD system, and geometrical data is input in an animation display system. Then, an operating data inputting operation is executed to set operating data as input parameters for an animation display function.
After setting the operating data for each of the parts composing the product, an animation producing process is executed to display the process of assembly of the product by animation.
In the above-mentioned operating data inputting process, a subject part is firstly specified. Next, the kind, the direction and the amount of movement are set for the specified part. Assuming that a part is moved, for example, in a straight line in the positive direction of the z-axis by a distance of "500", it is necessary to set parameters, such as "straight moving" (0.0, 0.0, 1.0), "500.0".
Lastly, the time period of movement is set. The time period indicates the time range of movement of the part, and, in order to confirm the order of assembly of the parts, an operator needs to set the time period so that the time range does not overlap with the time range of another part, taking the order of assembly of each part into consideration.
In a conventional apparatus for producing animation of an assembling procedure, a program for inputting geometrical data takes out geometrical information of an assembly procedure from an input unit and stores it in a geometrical data area. A program for inputting operating data inputs through the input unit operating data as input parameters for the animation display function for each part composing the assembly.
A program for producing animation generates animation data from the geometrical data and the operating data and outputs it to the output unit. As described above, in the conventional method, it is necessary to set operation data for all of the parts composing the assembly, taking the order of assembly into consideration.
The conventional technique is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-147375 (1986), Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-324779 (1993), Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-37960 (1992).
In the conventional technology for producing animation, there is a disadvantage in that the procedure carried out by an operator becomes complicated, since operating data has to be set for each unit of parts. Further, there is a disadvantage in that, when the number of parts in a product is large, it takes a very long time to set operating data for all of the parts, taking the order of assembly of the product into consideration.
Furthermore, there is a disadvantage in that it is difficult for the operator to understand the detailed contents and the degree of difficulty of the assembling work using a simple animation in which all of the parts to be assembled are moved at a constant speed or are expressed with the same attribute.